66 BULLETIN f92, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRtGULTURE. 



WEAKFISH. 



The weakfish is given in the special report of the Bureau of the 

 Census on Fisheries of the United States under the name of Squeteague. 

 It is an "excellent food fish found in abundance along the Atlantic 

 Coast from Cape Cod to Florida. It is known as 'drummer' about 

 Cape Cod; 'yellowfin' about Buzzards Bay; 'weakfish' in New York 

 and New Jersey; 'bluefish' in Delaware and Virginia; 'gray trout,' 

 'sun trout,' 'shad trout,' 'sea trout,' and 'salt water trout' in the 

 Middle and South Atlantic States, and 'squeteague,' 'squit,' 'chick- 

 wit,' etc., in various places. It averages about two and one-half 

 pounds in weight, though some individuals attain a weight of 30 

 pounds. They are caught in seines and gill nets and with hook and 

 line. The spotted squeteague is found from New Jersey to Texas, and 

 is somewhat larger than the preceding." 



On January 15, 1918, 712,636 pounds of frozen weakfish remained 

 in cold storage from the previous year. The stocks decreased until 

 April 15, when 85,270 pounds remained. An increase then occurred 

 until October 15 and the reports of that date showed stocks of 

 2,175,541 pounds. This amount was approximately twice as large 

 as the holdings of the previous year. 



Table 60. — Monthly cold storage holdings of frozen weakfish during 1918, and increase 

 or decrease during each month. 



Month. 



January 



February. . 



March 



April 



May 



June 



July 



August 



September 



October 



November 

 December. 



Holdings 

 on fifteenth 

 of month. 



Pounds. 



712,636 



377,098 



168,176 



85,270 



539,756 



1,309,485 



1.344,804 



1,794,457 



1,776,785 



2,175,541 



2,121,443 



2,022,100 



Relative 

 percent- 

 age. 



Per cent. 



32.8 



17.3 



7.7 



3.9 



24.8 



60.2 



61.8 



82.5 



81.7 



100.0 



97.5 



92.9 



Increase or decrease 

 during month. 



Pounds. 

 -335,538 

 -208,922 



- 82,906 

 +454,486 

 + 769,729 

 + 35,319 

 +449,653 



- 17,672 

 + 398,756 



- 54,098 



- 99,343 



- 507,440 



Per cent. 



- 47.1 



- 55.4 



- 49.3 

 +533.0 

 + 142.6 

 + 2.7 

 + 33.4 



- 1.0 

 + 22.4 



- 2.5 



- 4.7 



- 25.1 



Table 61. — Monthly cold storage holdings of frozen weakfish during 1918 compared 



with those of 1917. 



Month. 



Reported for 1918. 



reporting. 



Holdings 



reported 



on fifteenth 



of month. 



Comparison with 1917. 



Storages 



reporting 



for both 



dates. 



1917. 



1918. 



Increase 



or 

 decrease. 



January 



February.. 



March 



April 



May 



June 



July...... 



August.... 



September 



October 



November. 

 December. 



Number. 

 26 

 28 

 29 

 27 

 22 

 23 

 23 

 26 

 24 

 25 

 27 

 28 



Pounds. 



712,636 



377,098 



168,176 



85,270 



539,756 



1,309,485 



1,344,804 



1,794,457 



1,776,785 



2,175,541 



2,121,443 



2,022,100 



Number. 

 19 

 20 

 22 

 21 

 18 

 19 

 19 

 21 

 19 

 22 

 25 

 28 



Pounds. 

 443,646 

 88,099 



• 91,493 

 28,755 

 152,402 

 196,531 

 228,126 

 723,097 

 546,588 

 930,855 



1,460,003 



1,156,420 



Pounds. 



374,545 



100,347 



105,004 



65,409 



394,425 



962,560 



982,969 



1,269,802 



1,228,123 



1,846,255 



2,117,273 



2,022,100 



Per cent. 

 - 15.6 

 + 13.9 

 + 14.8 

 + 127.5 

 + 158.8 

 + 389.8 

 + 330.9 

 + 75.6 

 + 124.7 

 + 98.3 

 + 45.0 

 + 74.9 



